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Cleaning Up Oil in Water
Cleaning Up Oil in Water
water
Introduction/background notes
What you need
What to do
Student handout: Cleaning up oil
Introduction/background
The grounding of Rena on the Astrolabe Reef in 2011 caused an oil spill in the Bay of Plenty.
This affected wildlife and could have long-term implications for the marine environment.
The response to the oil spill was fraught with divided opinions. Scientists working with Maritime
New Zealand were initially convinced the chemical Corexit would disperse the oil. Others were
not so sure some felt dispersants were just as damaging to the environment as the oil. Some
wanted the oil left to disperse naturally.
Oil close to the shoreline in some places was collected up with booms and skimmers or
sorbents (Read Pollution from Rena, Cleaning up the oil spill and Rena wrecked on reef: oilclean-up on-going.
Oil spills may take months or even years to clean up. The oil may include crude oil, refined
petroleum products or byproducts. Oil also enters the marine environment through natural
seeps from the seafloor. Most human-induced oil pollution comes from land-based activity, but
we are made very aware of spills from seagoing ships and oil tankers.
In this activity, students experiment with oil in water. The first thing they will notice is that oil
and water do not mix. Water and oil are chemically different so they are not attracted to one
another and will separate into layers.The oil (because its less dense) floats on the water.The
students then explore ways to remove the oil from the water. As they experiment, students
should be mindful that they are working with a small amount of oil in still water. Cleaning up a
heavy fuel oil spill in the ocean is a different scenario. Additional factors in the clean-up include
the type of oil, vast quantities of saltwater, wave action, Sun, wind, storms, currents and
accessibility to the oil.
Gather the groups together after each exploration activity for class discussion. You can add
science knowledge as necessary.
Sorbents
In the first activity, students experiment with sorbents. Sorbents are insoluble materials with a
large internal surface. They are used to recover liquids through absorption (liquid is picked up
and retained) and/or adsorption (the sorbent is coated by the liquid on its surface, including
pores and capillaries). Sorbents need to be oil attracting (oleophilic) and water hating
(hydrophobic). Although they may be used as the sole clean-up method in small spills,
sorbents are most often used to remove final traces of oil.
Copyright. 2013. University of Waikato. All rights reserved.
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Science story > Where Land Meets Sea > Teaching and Learning Approaches > Cleaning up oil in
water
Science story > Where Land Meets Sea > Teaching and Learning Approaches > Cleaning up oil in
water
What to do
1. Divide the class into groups of about 34 and explain that each group will be exploring
cleaning up oil from water. They should discuss what they think is happening as they go.
Hand out copies of the student handout Cleaning up oil and discuss. What is a sorbent?
2. Assist groups of students to gather the equipment they need to conduct the experiments.
3. Have students complete steps 15 and discuss why do you think one sorbent might be
better than others?
4. Watch this experiment on YouTube using a super-absorbent gel (hydrogel) a superabsorbent polymer used in baby nappies www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT9HZkzEvRo. (You
could try the experiment found at
http://weirdsciencekids.com/OilspillexperimentPolymer.html.)
5. Discuss as a class why polymer products (such as hydrogel, polypropylene, polyester) are
effective in cleaning up oil spills. Why is sheeps wool an effective oil sorbent?
6. Have students complete steps 68 and discuss.
7. As a class, read Cleaning up the oil spill and Rena wrecked on reef: oil-clean-up on-going.
8. Discuss as a class the pros and cons of leaving oil to disperse naturally and also the use of
chemical dispersants.
9. Explain that many seabirds are affected in an oil spill. The oil damages their feathers so
that they cant function normally. Have students complete steps 912 and discuss.
10. As a class, read Rena bird recovery and watch the YouTube clip www.youtube.com/watch?
v=5mW6h0X7uK8 and discuss.
Science story > Where Land Meets Sea > Teaching and Learning Approaches > Cleaning up oil in
water